Critics Say Alcan Deal All About Power

Monday, August 14, 2006 10:10 AM

Critics say Alcan’s plans to build a new smelter in Kitimat at a cost of $1.8 billion dollars will result in lost jobs but the real key in today’s announcement is a new agreement with BC Hydro.

A new agreement with BC Hydro announced by Premier Gordon Campbell will deliver "firm power"; enough says the Premier to power 225,000 homes in BC.

Campbell says BC Hydro will now be able to buy all surplus power from Alcan at “market prices."

The price of a MH of power has risen since the 1994 agreement between Alcan and BC Hydro from $28.50 an hour with provisions for inflation, to $75 dollars today. The old agreement was to have stayed in force until the next decade and how Alcan has been able to serve "notice of recall" (which cancels the old deal) may be tied into another agreement signed between former Premier Glen Clark and Alcan.

A new hydro agreement, a new, more efficient plant, and a cold water release facility all add up to Alcan being able to free up more than 25% of the electricity being produced.

The City of Kitimat is taking Alcan to court to try and have the 1950 agreement enforced. Under that agreement, all excess power from Kemano will be used to develop industry "within the vicinity of the works". After many delays, Kitimat hopes to have the matter before the courts sometime this fall.

Based on the figures released today by the Premier, the value of the power contract between Alcan and BC Hydro would be about $148 million dollars a year. Alcan enjoys the cheapest water rates of anywhere in the world at its Kemano system.

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Posted on Monday, August 14, 2006 10:10 AM in News by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: REALIST on August 14 2006 11:34 AM

Yeah Gordo has changed from his first term and he now cares about people. Fortunatly, actions speak louder than words and once again we see Gordo supporting big business at the expense of the citizens of British Columbia. What a poor excuse for a human being.

Posted by: diplomat on August 14 2006 2:18 PM

>...may be tied into another agreement signed between former Premier Glen Clark and Alcan.<

Of course, we are going to ignore that and simply
heap scorn and abuse on those who have to deal with the agreements that were signed in the past, some as recently as 1997!

The fact that Alcan built a dam, a powerhouse and transmission lines seems to be ignored as well by those who claim that somehow the power can be harvested from the river for "free" as
if it was there just for the taking.

If BC Hydro had to construct a dam and powerhouse now, how much would that cost the taxpayers???

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 14 2006 3:15 PM

Hey , what happened to that excellent post from the manger at Kitimat that was on this morning? That was great stuff.

Was that too accurate for Alcan to sit still for? Did Alcan or Big Union get the lawyers to call and have it removed?? The best defensive is a strong offence - that information is now gone?

Whew!

Posted by: trusted on August 14 2006 5:06 PM

THAT WAS THEN, THIS IS NOW.
Check that heading Yama-perhaps what you are looking for.
There will be no advantage to any attempt to hide anything at this point.
Accurate, inaccurate, defense, offense-accept the fact this project will go ahead, and 1.8 Billion will be spent in this province, increased hydro will be available, a great deal of high paid employment for at least a half dozen years, and try, try,try to look at the plus side.
There sure as hell is one.

Posted by: Palopu on August 14 2006 9:14 PM

Hopefully the City of Kitimat will take Alcan to the wall, and force them to live up to the original agreement. Finiancing smelters in Quebec with BC money is not and cannot be construed as a plus.

If their ever was a David and Goliath situation this is it. Dont expect our BC Government to help the City of Kitimat.

Both the NDP and Liberals screwed up on this.

The Socreds had the brains and the wherewithal to build in protections to these contracts, however the NDP and Liberals dont have the brains to look after things, and as a result we are losing out on a lot of jobs and revenue.

You would be very hard pressed to find a genuine intelligent, hard working politician, with vision and forsight anywhere in the Province of BC. We are now in the dubius position of being governed by incompetents, who think the Olympics are the most important thing in the world.

Problem is their is nothing available to replace the Liberals. Certainly not the NDP.

This is whats called a catch 22. Your dammed if you do and your dammed if you dont.

Posted by: McDuck on August 14 2006 10:41 PM

Alcan, selling hydro back to us at market prices? What about charging Alcan for water at market prices?

This whole deal is a rip off for the citizens of British Columbia.

We pay American prices for hydro and water on the open market, yet these resources belong to the pronvice of BC. Should we not at least get a discount?

Why do large corporations get such special treatment? Oh yes, I forgot, it's my shareholder status that entitles me to an existence, not my citizenship. Why do we resist the idea that our democratic society has been changed to a corporate state? Remants of what was a great idea I suppose. Soon we will be wearing patches with corporate logos to advertise who we belong to and believe in. Oops, I guess we already to that.

We have arrived, we are here, the new society of multi-corporatism, the great melting pot of nations, ethnicity, and culture. Cast our voting ballots aside and pick up those shareholder proxies!

Posted by: YamaDooPolCat on August 15 2006 7:38 AM

I remember reading a Citzen paper clipping that hung on the wall at PG Automative for at least 12 years. It said the NDP, in the days of Dave If You Can Bare-it, introduced the idea of a water tax. Dave told BC Hydro he needed a billion bucks to balance his socialist budget, and to get the cash from BC Hydro customers.

Dave noticed we couldn't send him any taxes any more because the land we used to log was flooded.

But the NDP didn't care about any trade off we had made of land for cheap power, Dave wanted to spend money we didn't have.

Hence the water tax.

Posted by: Chadermando on August 15 2006 4:26 PM

A water tax is a good thing for hydro generation no matter who it is that brought it up. I support a water tax because it would be a wash with BC Hydro, but would enable BC to recieve fair compensation from Alcan regardless of the games Alcan plays with the law.